if the credit bureaus make a bona fide mistake
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What should I do if the credit bureaus make a bona fide mistake and won't repair it? Do I have any legal recourse for my credit repair? First off, you should repair the inaccurate information with all three credit bureaus (if they¹re all reporting the same erroneous information.) Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot that you can do to keep the credit bureaus from using their entire 30 days to complete the investigation and credit repair. You should, however, prepare for the worse. If the information appearing on your credit report is truly inaccurate, they will probably verify the information anyway and ignore your attempts at credit repair, especially if the listing is more serious as in the case of a bankruptcy. In order to prepare a case against the credit bureaus, you should keep copies of your dispute letters and send them certified mail, return receipt requested. By documenting your credit repair, you establish that the credit bureaus willfully ignored your notification of their mistake. If the credit bureaus fail to repair the erroneous items, you may have a good cause of action against them. If you do not have other negative credit that is actually accurate, then your case becomes even better because damages are clearer. Your damages may include credit that you failed to obtain, home and car purchases that were declined or passed because your credit was known to you to be bad and even your time spent on credit repair. If your damages are sufficient, and if your case is a clear winner, you should be able to find an attorney willing to conduct a lawsuit "on contingency." In other words, the lawyer may take your case without requiring you to pay a retainer. The attorney would be paid only when a settlement was reached with the credit bureaus and your credit is repaired. In practice, these cases almost always settle out of court and can easily yield settlements exceeding $50,000 or more. |